


Darcy saves the world- before coffee

by fabricdragon



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Awesome Darcy Lewis, BAMF Darcy Lewis, Captured Together, Companionable Snark, Darcy Lewis-centric, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Escape, F/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Some Humor, forced to work together, rather a lot actually
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-13 01:47:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29643912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fabricdragon/pseuds/fabricdragon
Summary: Darcy was just trying to go out to get a cup of overly sugared coffee-like substance (preferably with whipped cream) when she was kidnapped and thrown in a cell.  Now she just has to escape, foil the bad guys, and... work with Loki.Before coffee.
Relationships: Darcy Lewis/Loki
Comments: 77
Kudos: 123





	1. They didnt even let me get my coffee

Darcy was, frankly, furious.

Also frightened, but since that mostly came out as angry- she leaned heavily toward ‘fight’ in the fight, flight, or freeze reactions -it just meant she was doubly furious. 

She had just been heading to a coffee shop and a couple of goons in all black- head to toe plus helmets and face visors- tried to grab her. She tased one of course, but they’d shot her with something as she ran and she didn't wake up until they were hauling her around in some super secret villain's lair. She’d done her best, but being outnumbered and taser-less meant it didn't work very well- she kicked a few where it hurt before they took her down though. She woke up again being hauled down a row of cells with lit up doorways, and was all but hurled into a cell by a guard- maybe one she’d kicked: she couldn't tell them apart.

She picked herself- and her dignity- back up.

“I have friends you know! And they’ll be PISSED!” she yelled at the oddly crackling doorway that closed off the cell. They had put her in manacles and leg irons, and she was locked in a cell with a crackly energy door: It was a really weird mix of high and low tech, but then she peered at the chains and manacles on her hands- they weren’t taking chances, because they’d wrapped the chain around her body a few times just for good measure - “I don’t think these are steel? What the fuck are they?”

A voice came from off to one side, “Judging from your idioms you are from Earth?”

She got as close to the crackling … force wall she assumed… as she could, but couldn't see to the side, only to the empty looking cell across the hallway. “Is there some reason I wouldn't be from Earth? That's not a good sounding question my dude…”

“I… am not from Earth, but if we have gotten to Earth then escape becomes a possibility… You have friends, you said?”

“Well… uh… most of them aren't going to be too useful against extraterrestrials,” she admitted, “But my former boss lady is friends with some Avengers. They’re-” she cut off because the other guy groaned loudly.

“Avengers, of course… because nothing ever goes smoothly, of course not.” He sounded frustrated.

“Ooooohhh -kay.” Darcy resolved to ask about that later, “So i had no idea they were aliens? Because the jumpsuit with weird helmets and face shields is like… ubiquitous villain wear. But,” she finally worked her way through to the heart of this problem, “does that mean they might be leaving Earth? Because that, like, really gives me an incentive to get out now.”

“Yes, they will be leaving Earth once they finish abducting their targets- you were likely taken as an associate of the Avengers.”

“But I’m not! I mean like… i know Thor, but not, like, as well as my old Boss Lady and i haven’t even seen him or any of the Avengers in ages!”

“...you… know…” whoever the dude was trailed off, and then after a bit, “In any event, I agree that now is the time to attempt to leave.”

“I’m a bit worried about the crackly door thing.”

“Yes, well...I have been studying it and i believe i have found a weakness. It will, however, be painful.”

“Oh… well… ah.. What is it?”

“They made the mistake of putting the cell doors in a connected link.”

“...and?”

“If several people attempt to go through the doors at the same time- the force will be diffused.”

“So… if everyone makes a rush for it at the same time..?”

“It will at the very least hurt less, and one or all of us may get through.”

She considered it. “Will it kill me if it doesn't work?”

“Probably not? They do not wish any of us to die before we get there.”

“Well… right! So, I’m in… count to three and go? I mean like one , two , three and Go?”

“I will see if i can talk any of the others into trying it- it is more likely to work the more of us act at once.”

She could hear him more or less repeating the same stuff- she understood HIM but the responses were… no languages she had ever heard. After a good bit of arguing he simply said “Regardless, it is now or wait for the inevitable.” and that shut most of them up.

All too soon they were getting ready and then the dude- since everyone seemed to be able to understand him- called out “One! Two! Three! NOW!”

And Darcy threw herself into the doorway.

It hurt.

No, that wasn’t accurate: waking UP hurt- she hadn’t felt a thing when she hit the doorway.

Eventually she pushed herself up as best as she could with her arms chained and sat up, looking up and down the hallway- oh hell, her glasses were missing.

She called out, “Hello?”

“Hello?” the dude’s voice- sounding a bit worse for wear. “Well, it was a good try.”

“What happened?”

“Obviously it didn't work.” he snapped.

“Then… Why am I in the hallway?”

Dead silence for a few beats and then a nearly whispered, “You are?”

“Oh… so the hall is empty because… you’re still in the cell? Look, I lost my glasses and everything is a bit foggy… although I'm not sure that's from the glasses so much as the being knocked unconscious thing.”

“Follow my voice, I believe i am in the cell next to yours…”

She did and nearly fell into the crackling wall trying to keep her balance.

“To your … left there is a control panel… it has lights on it.”

She peered at it- everything blurred and doubled oddly- “Yeah i think i have a concussion? But i see it.”

He sounded like he was impatient but he walked her through the unnecessarily complex instructions - well the control panel was unnecessarily complex, his directions weren’t- with a minimum of under the breath swearing.

“You need coffee, dude.”

“If it gets me out of here i will drink whatever brown swill you like”

She pushed the last button in sequence and… nothing. “Nothing happened?” she called out, peering at the colored panel lights. “Did i do it wrong?”

And then someone grabbed her.

It was MORE of those goons in the head to toe black and she was at a severe disadvantage with her legs shackled and her arms in chains, but she was determined to make a few of them regret their life choices before they took her down…but then there was someone tall in green, moving fast enough to make the goons look slowed, and he was absolutely taking them apart: it was like a really badly focused action movie.

There was a lot of shouting- she didn't understand any of it- and then tall dude was picking her up. “Come along, human.”

“My glasses!” she yelped, “Oh God i sound like Velma…”

He bent over- without putting her down, “I have them…” and he was running- with her thrown over his shoulder like a bad caveman trope. There was still a lot of yelling.

“Are we going to let the others out? We should let them out!”

“Why?” he slowed, apparently peering around a corner. “I owe YOU a debt- hence my rescuing you- i do not owe them.”

“You do owe them because if i was the only one who threw myself at the door it might not have worked, but in any case… distraction value?”

He hesitated, “You have a point.” and fired some kind of blaster down the hallway at … something, and then he spun and fired a blast back down the hall they came from and there was a LOT of noise. “There, that disarmed the doors: you are quite right, distraction is worthwhile.”

Then they were running again and Darcy began to be very glad that she hadn’t had any lunch because no matter how good this guy was? His shoulder was right in her gut. “Could you maybe get me out of these?”

“I possibly could,” he admitted as he peered around another corridor, “But you would be less easy to carry.”

“I can run!”

“I’ll think about it.” and he fired down a hallway and ran some more. 

After a while she saw blurry shapes behind them “are those good or bad guys behind us?!” she shouted- she couldn't tell.

He put the blaster over her back and fired- she barely ducked her head down in time. 

“Bad guys?” she squeaked.

“Probably,” he was starting to breathe heavily, “I didn't look.”

He… didn’t look? “So those could have been your friends?!”

“I don’t have any friends.”

And then there was a bright flash and he stumbled and fell and she ended up in a heap next to him. He was moving… a little… and there was a somewhat gun shaped object near her nose... and then more goons in black, and someone in what appeared to be deep blue boots - that being what she could see- were there, and two of the goons were hauling him up…

Yeah, no.

She grabbed hold of the blaster that was in front of her and hoped it worked like it looked like it did: she aimed as best as she could with her hands in chains at the blue blur and pushed the lit button with her finger, hoping it was like a trigger… and that it didn't have much kick.

It was a trigger: it didn't have any kick.

There was a bright flash and more yelling and then there was a flash that was RIGHT in front of her nose as someone grabbed her ankles and yanked her backwards.

Then she was thrown over tall dude’s shoulder again and they were running… and he was laughing.

“That… was brilliant!” he said, sounding very cheerful.

“I just aimed at the blue dude and hoped that button was a trigger- what happened other than my nose nearly being taken off?”

“Your head,” he corrected idly. “You killed a senior commander. I had re-set the weapon I was carrying to lethal- initially they were firing to recapture: they aren’t now.”

“Uh… sorry?”

“Don’t be.” he ducked into a room and put her down on something that seemed kind of like a table actually. Her vision was slowly clearing but it was still really off.

“Hold your arms out as much as you can,” he said waving something metallic. She did. He pulled her over so that her arms were just off the table and then there was a smell of something like hot metal and melting plastic … she very carefully did NOT pull her arms back.

“Is. that conductive? Is it hot?”

“Oh… hmm. Yes. hold on.” he waved a blue glove? And there was something cold and then he said, “That should be close to ambient temperature”  
  
She pulled her arms back and he pulled the chains away and she was left with two manacles and short lengths of chain…”Undoing my feet?” she asked hopefully.

“No, it would either burn you or freeze you, and in any event I mostly wanted you to be able to hold a gun.” he said, handing her a gun that didn’t quite look like the one she had before, but had a button in the same place.

“Right… um...where are we running TO? Because are we on a spaceship? like … wouldn't people on Earth notice a spaceship?”

“We are trying to get to the… you might call it a landing bay. They use a short range dimensional gate to get from Earth onto the ship: we need to get to it before they finish up on the planet and… close the gate, essentially.” he said it casually while he was rummaging around in drawers and cabinets.

“So like an Einstein-Rosen Bridge?”

He paused, “A bit, except they have a-” after that it sounded like something Jane would say and she barely followed it.

“Ok, back up: i am not a dimensional physicist i just know two of them.”

He’d gone over to leaning against the door listening and peering out occasionally, and was slowly beginning to be less blurry, “You… know two dimensional physicists?” he sounded a bit incredulous, “That puts you in rather rarefied company on earth I would think.”

“Well i used to? Haven’t seen Jane since i-”

“Jane...Foster?” He sounded a bit strangled.

“Yes? I used to be an intern-”

“For Foster and Selvig: You are Darcy Lewis?”

“Yes? Uh...for someone not from Earth…”

“I owe you for your assistance, but there are limits: shall we put such things aside until we get out of here?”

“What ‘things’? Wait… you’re Asgardian, aren’t you?!”

“Not exactly.” he muttered. “Come on, the hallway is clear for the moment.” he came back to pick her up. 

“Woah- hold up, dude: isn’t it OBVIOUS that we will be heading to this landing bay?”

“... yes, unfortunately.”

“If i followed any of what you said.. Wouldn't there be like… someplace else? Emergency life rafts or something?”

“It doesn't work that way!” he snapped at her.

She folded her arms, “then explain it: no sensible engineer traps themselves with only one way out, so there HAS to be a second way.”

“You are assuming they are sensible!” he was waving his arms at her.

“I’m assuming whoever built this was competent- whether the goons are or not!” she held her ground.

He hesitated, “IF… there is a second way out… i do not know what it is, or where it is.”

“Good.”

“Good?! How is that GOOD!?” he was ranting at her and there was something rattling around in the back of her mind about that, but she had dealt with ranting people ever since she arrived at Culver University so she at least knew how to deal with it.

“It's good because now you are admitting that its just that you don't know the answer, “ she replied calmly, “NOT that there is no second way out.” she nodded firmly, “Now… we need to find out how to get off the spaceship- preferably while we blow the hell out of the landing bay because THAT is where they will be waiting to ambush us.”

He stepped back, folded his arms and stared at her- his features were coming into focus and… hot damn those curls looked good. “You… are a very strange human, Darcy Lewis.”

She shrugged, “So? Tell me something I don't know?”

“I think i like you.”


	2. Maximum squish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which bargains are made, distractions are created, and boobs are squished

“The problem,” he said idly, “well one problem of many, is that IF there is a second way off the ship i have no idea what it is or where it is.” he was pacing around and occasionally looking out the door- and getting more in focus by the minute.  
  
“Can… i have my glasses back?”   
  
He handed them to her the next time his orbit brought him nearby and she put them on: the world got more in focus, but her vision was still a little tilted. “Yeah, going through that door messed up my vision - or i have a concussion.”   
  
“It was likely the door- it is designed to affect the nervous system in ways to discourage people from attempting to touch it.” he looked back, “So other than going to the landing bay Miss Lewis, do you have any suggestions?”

She contemplated Tall Dude: he was dressed in green- and if that wasn't some kind of Asgardian armor she would eat her shoes- pale, had killer dark curls… “You… kind of look like Loki?”

“I am,” his lip twisted in something that might possibly have been a smile, but might not.

“Why are you a prisoner on a weirdo spaceship?”

Her vision was still off but she could still see him roll his eyes, “It is a very long story and irrelevant to the fact that they are now trying to kill us.”

She considered that. “True.” she slid off the table and started going through the drawers and cabinets for useful items. “Ok, so these guys think more or less like humans- Asgardians- whatever? So… there has to be an evacuation system… hopefully like , lighted signs or something?”

He arched an eyebrow, “Why not assume the crew would already know their evacuation drill?”

“Hmm. unfortunately possible. So.. I have some ideas, but… ah… you don't exactly have a good reputation…”

“Your point?” he asked while he was looking out the door again.  
  
I want you to promise that you won't leave me behind unless your life depends on it, and you won't deliberately hurt or kill me.”

He gave her a very odd look and closed and- she supposed- locked the door again. “Oddly specific.”

“Well, once we started dealing with Gods and aliens and super heroes- not to mention dimensional gates and shit- i started planning.” she nodded. “So?”

“You are in a poor bargaining position,” he pointed out- but didn't sound angry, more amused.

“Neither of us is in a good bargaining position, my dude, but it will be better as a team; So?”

“Very well, In exchange for your oath that you will not do anything to cause me harm, nor will you ‘turn me in’ to anyone? I will not leave you behind, nor deliberately hurt or kill you, unless my life depends on it.”

“You changed the wording.” she pointed out.

He smirked, “So?”

“You keep your word; i keep mine,” she nodded, “No turning you in or deliberately harming you unless MY life depends on it.”  
  
He laughed and held out a hand- she shook it and felt an odd spark and saw a flash of green… at her puzzled look he shrugged, “Binding oaths. Now, you said you had ideas?”

“First of all, there are lots of tools in those cabinets so i KNOW you can get these shackles off.”  
  
He walked over to a drawer and came out with something that looked like bolt cutters designed by Salvadore Dali, “well, yes, but we were not a ‘team’ were we?” and cut the chains off her ankles and then trimmed the chains on her wrists.   
  
“So...if this was a human built thing, i would just set off enough fires and explosions and hope emergency lights came on to show me the way out…”   
  
He grinned at her- still a bit blurry despite the glasses- “One of humanity’s finer points…”   
  
“Emergency lighting?”   
  
“Your willingness to engage in massive destruction; do go on.”

She blinked at him and grinned, “Not all humans, just the more interesting ones… anyway… i can’t count on that working, but… mess up the right things and they can at least not GO anywhere until they put out the fires, right?”

“Good point- not guaranteed but… better than not doing anything….” he sounded thoughtful.  
  
“The other point is that ships- any kind of ships- need a lot of behind the scenes stuff like pipes and cables and repair access… can we get into that by going through a wall? Or is there an access in one of the closets here?”

He looked at the wall and said, “Pipes?” quietly… “Yes…. there… would be maintenance access…”  
  
“So we cut through the back of the closets- that way it doesnt show- until we find an access, and then hide in there: its at least a better hiding spot?”

… it didn't take that long to cut through the back of one of the closets. Darcy unlocked the door to the room, and they pulled all the gear back into place before setting the back of the closet back- hopefully unless someone actually leaned on it they wouldn't notice.

“Are you another spy?” Loki asked her after they managed to - barely- get past a few bends in pipes and things into what appeared to be an *actual* access and repair location. The ‘flashlights’ they had were horrible, but at least no one was likely to see any light shining through any crevices- mostly because they barely illuminated just in front of their feet.  
  
“No? Why would you think I was?” she had just asked that when she saw a lighter patch up against a panel.

“You seem very adept at evasion and thinking of ways to sneak about.”

“Theater kid,” she shrugged, “That and i hung around with the access hackers at university. So...if i may point out something?”

“Yes?” Loki was listening against an access hatch for any signs of movement.

“This appears to be a map.”

… it wasn't exactly a map, but Loki said it was a diagram for some of the wiring, which was close enough. He had them back track a bit, and then he did something to one of the guns, and then dragged her back to the map and kept moving… fast.  
  
“What is going on?”   
  
“A distraction.”   
  
They had just crawled through a tight space- or Loki had: he actually had to PULL her through because she didn't fit- and she was bitching quietly about just how badly that hurt as he pulled her along… when there was a horrible noise, a bit of a pressure wave… and she was thrown into a support of some kind.

“Da fuq?” she was frankly impressed that she managed to keep it to a quiet curse and didn't just start shrieking at the universe in general.

“Distraction…” Loki was also picking himself up. After a slight pause he added, “A bit more of one than i anticipated.”

“Ok… look… i know it's not your fault that i got abducted by aliens, you didn't fight hard enough that they wrapped you in chains like an ad for a bondage club, and you didn't make those cells to zap me silly… but we need to have a chat about the lack of discussion with your partner about what you are doing- especially when it involves pulling me and my boobies through a hole big enough for *one* booby… without even greasing me up first.”

Loki blinked at her several times and then started snickering.

“What?”

He tried to put a straight face on- i mean he failed, but he did try- “Yes, well… i am afraid i rather expected there was… ah… less…” he waved a hand at her and started snickering again. When he stopped snickering he amended, “I thought you would ‘squish’ more?”

“This is fully squished!” Darcy protested, “I’m in a maximum squish bra! This is my work day bra so I don't bounce!...much.” she stood up and ‘bounced’ her chest lightly on the support beam. “If i was any more tightly packed in here you could bounce a quarter off me!”

“Is… that a thing you humans do?”

“It's a joke, because making a military bed was supposed to be pulled taut enough to bounce a quarter,” she rolled her eyes, “Jokes lose too much when you have to explain them. Ok, so the explosion back there … is a distraction?”

“The explosion, back there, that according to the diagram you found should have completely disabled navigation, thus preventing the ship from going anywhere until its repaired… is a distraction.” he made a faint bowing gesture to her, “as you suggested.”

She couldn't help but look impressed, “ok, yeah… that will work.” she took a deep breath- wincing at what were likely to be some incredible bra marks and bruises- “so now what?”

“Keep moving and hope we find something useful.” he shrugged.

“Hold it… you understood those diagrams?”

“Enough, why?”

“Ok...so...which areas of the ship have the most protected systems? Or the most redundant ones? Because that's at least going to be like… engineering, or something useful…”

He looked incredulously at her, and then nodded. “I take back everything i ever thought about humans- at least with regard to you…”

She looked smug. It wasn't until they were moving again that she considered… “Loki?”

“Yes?”

“That *was* a compliment, right?”

He just snickered some more- jerk.

-

They did eventually end up someplace that had an access port out into something that looked...like engineering. There was one dude all in white with an odd colored trim on his sleeve and legs… this was also the first alien she had seen without a helmet on and… yeah, not quite human. Loki was about to go right by it until she tugged on his arm, “Shouldn't we go in there?” she whispered, waving at the access.

“That is a low ranking-”

“Ensign or something, yeah?”

“If this place was important they would have officers here.”

She smacked her hand over her face and drew it down slowly, “Loki… you have obviously never worked on a ship, or in an engineering department.”

“Have you?”

“Theater kid- same diff- also i worked in an engineering and physics university and majored in politics.”

He stopped, “You… are not a physics student? But you worked for them…”

“I was the only one who applied,” she shrugged, “I’m a political science major: didn’t matter, none of the grad student physicists would have understood their work anyway.”

“True…”

“Look, you blew up important stuff: all the *good* engineers are off trying to not get shoved out an airlock by the captain, or cursing vehemently while they repair cables: that's why there is a junior intern/grad student/enlistee here… and he looks nervous because they left him watching important stuff- probably told him not to touch anything.”

He very slowly looked back at the access, “you have a brief glimpse and he is not human- why do you think he looks nervous?”

“No officers around but he still wasn't sitting down.”

Loki stared at her some more and then actually placed a hand on her shoulder, “I would dub you an honorary Asgardian but i suspect that would be an insult: come on.”


	3. The gravity of the situation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the least funny chapter so far, but you do get answers to a LOT of the basic questions

“Did you have to kill him?” Darcy asked.    
She was trying to stay out of the way while Loki did … something… in the engineering room: the former ensign whatever was tucked behind something so he wasn't immediately noticeable from the door. Darcy felt like she should be more upset about it, but maybe it was the bloodless state of the body? Loki had apparently broken the fellow’s neck rather cleanly.

“Have to?” Loki didn't even look up from what he was doing, “no- but a prisoner is a risk, and i fail to see any reason to spare his life when we are likely killing everyone on the ship.”

“We… are?” Darcy checked to be sure the support didn't have any buttons on it and leaned back, “Why?”

Loki turned and raised an eyebrow at her- he was still a *little* blurry, but not nearly as much. “To… prevent them from reporting back?”

Darcy considered that, “unfortunately that sounds like a good idea.” she frowned and tried to think her way through it, “what about the other prisoners and...uh… i mean i take it we can’t offer them a chance to surrender or anything?”

Loki stared at her for a while and then, hesitantly, with a tone of voice like someone asking about peanut butter when they’d never had any, asked, “is… that… something people do? ah... Asgardian warfare tends toward ‘wipe them all out’ or possibly ‘carry them back as thralls’...except for any recognized peers.”

Darcy reviewed the Norse mythology and culture she had added to her studies after finding out Thor existed and Asgard was a dimensional frequency or something. “Hmm...well, Earth Vikings and Norse actually did a *lot* more trade and stuff than people think- like way more- and a lot less slaughtering… so i don't think that compares...my knowledge of Asgard is pretty limited?” she shrugged, “The aliens you were leading didn’t surrender, or even communicate-”

Loki cut her off, “I wasn’t leading them.”

Darcy raised an eyebrow and didn't say anything- she had expressive eyebrows.

Loki, a bit more defensively, muttered, “I’d been captured...believe me if i wanted to invade Midgard i could do a better job.”

Darcy added a head tilt to the eyebrow lift, and punctuated it with a lip twist to the side.

Loki waved his arms, “Do you think i would have opened the gate practically OVER Stark towers AND let Selvig build in a cut off switch If that was MY idea?!”

Darcy considered that, “I.. don’t know: i wasn’t in New York or anything by then… I mean it did seem kind of…” she considered how easily Loki carried her and broke the ensign’s neck and chose a more diplomatic phrase, “less than stellar tactics.”

He ‘huffed’ out a breath of air and turned back to doing meaningful looking things to the controls. “Very well… i will leave the path to the ‘landing bay’ open for people to escape to Earth, if they choose: without the ship to retreat to they should not pose too much of a threat.” he did more incomprehensible things to more displays. “Once i am done we will have a limited amount of time before things start…” he glanced back at her, “How long can you manage in poor air?”

“If you mean ‘can I be a tourist in places with a lot of pollution’? Yes, if you mean ‘how long can you hold your breath?’ not that long. Why?”

“Start looking for emergency supplies with breathing masks, then.”

…

Darcy was very glad she had found the breathing masks- for both of them- after Loki stepped back and fired at the control panel. He said it was to keep them from fixing what he’d done, but it rapidly filled the room with what she suspected was toxic smoke.

Then they were running...again.

Apparently Loki had found something like an emergency lifeboat but the only way to get to it was through the main hallways. Whatever he’d done had pulled most of the people off to other areas of the ship, though, so they only had to shoot a couple of people.

Darcy was *fairly* certain she was going to be upset about this later.

…

Unlike any science fiction movies, the ‘lifeboat’ or shuttle, or what have you, didn't have any big view screens; it just had control panels she couldn't understand at all. Loki didn't tell her to strap in, but when she saw *him* strap in she did too… which turned out to be a good thing as ‘gravity’ was apparently entirely dependent on the mothership.

Darcy was once again very grateful for the lack of food in her stomach.

“I like roller coasters but this is...not fun.” she finally said, swallowing again as everything in her body appeared to be trying to go the wrong way.

Loki looked over in some confusion and then… looked a bit sympathetic? “Ah… you have not been in…?”

“Very few Earthlings have been in zero-G.”

“Well… now you have one more bragging point?” he smirked, “And yes i can see that your undergarments are indeed holding you very firmly in place.”

“Almost a pity,’ she muttered, “but yeah, way less stress on my back and neck. I would appreciate it more if I didn't keep feeling sea sick.”

He sat back and stretched his legs out- emphasizing how tall he was- “So...now that we have a little while with no one shooting at us, i think we both have questions.”

“Lots of questions,” Darcy agreed, “let’s start with the most important one: Won’t the space ship be shooting or chasing us?”

He blinked and glanced at the controls and then back, “Ah, yes you don't understand the readouts: if anyone is still alive in the remnants of the ship they have very little chance of making any weapons work.”

“It… blew up?”

“A gross oversimplification, but… explosively decompressed, perhaps?”

“I have been watching too many movies: I expected to feel the shuttle shake from the blast… like… no, that wouldn't happen in space.”

“Only if we were much closer,” Loki agreed. “You are an exceptional Midgardian, truthfully: I wonder why Thor didn’t attach himself to you?”

“Uh… he called me his shield sister once?” she shrugged, “We got along, but…”

Loki smirked, “You probably remind him of me far too much.”

Darcy blinked a LOT at that. “Well, ah… i mean… I didn't send giant robots to try to kill him but I did taser him? I don’t really think-”

“I wasn’t trying to kill THOR!” Loki sat up suddenly, “I was trying to kill the traitors!”

“The… yeah, i think we have a lot to talk about. Um… maybe you could ask your questions first? Or at least start…”

Loki sat back and sighed, “My questions, I suspect, will not make over much sense.”

“My dude, I worked with Drs. Foster and Selvig: people talking and me not understanding them? that's normal.”

With a very quirked look he asked, “So what did you do when  _ they  _ didn't make sense?”

“Got them coffee, made sure the grant requests were filed, and nodded a lot.”

He threw his head back and laughed, “Oh! You are ready for a job in politics indeed!”

She couldn't help but laugh a bit herself, “You… um… seem a lot… friendlier than i would expect… given everything.”

“Ah… given everything..” he looked off past her, “That brings us back to my questions: you last saw Thor...at the invasion?”

“Well, i saw him on television, yeah.”

“How long ago was that?”

Darcy stared at him, unpleasant concepts trickling through her brain, “not… that… long ago? Whyyyyyy?”

He looked at her very sharply, “You… look like you are seeing the shape of my questions, how fascinating.”

“You only ‘kind of’ looked like Loki because you have much longer hair and curls and i don't think it's been long enough… and you look more filled out…” Darcy felt her mouth getting a bit dryer as she spoke. “Jane… and Erik… said the equations for the Einstein Rosen bridge and dimensional transportation had a potential for… time…”

“They do… as well as the potential for slipping further across dimensions.” Loki waved at her idly, “So… the question you can answer is, ‘when is it in the timeline i remember’: the question you can *not* answer is whether this is where I came from, or if by traveling backward in time, I have also traveled into an alternate reality.”

‘Alternate reality’, ‘traveled into the past’... This was so far over her head…

“So… ah...you say you didn't want to invade Earth…”

“It was a better option than anything else I had in front of me at the time.” Loki shrugged.

“So… you didn't travel back in time to … successfully invade Earth…? “ Darcy asked hopefully.

“No: things went horrendously badly and I hope to be able to stop… at least some of it.”

“Can you tell me what went wrong? Or will that… mess things up?”

“I…” he trailed off, “I think i can? However a great deal of my information is based on Asgardian events and would not make over much sense to you.” he looked at her with a long considering gaze, “Jane Foster has been, is, or will be essentially possessed by something… and *that* will lead to a great deal of death and destruction: I am not certain how to stop that, but i must try.”

_ Jane got possessed?!  _ Ok, that sounded very very bad but maybe it hadn’t happened? “So you don’t know if it’s happened yet...How does she get possessed?”

“I am fairly certain it has not happened yet,” Loki started and then went off about dimensional vortices and…

Darcy held up a hand, “woah: poli-sci major is over her head. How does this cause death and destruction?”

Loki looked very frustrated and finally said: “She is taken to Asgard for help, and...the enemy comes after her to retrieve the power.”

“Ok...so we have a bit of time, likely, to think about it… and… we can't do anything until we get back to Earth anyway, right?”

“...technically...yes.”

“And there’s more I take it?”

“A great deal more: enough more to make that seem like a pittance.” Loki sounded grim.

“But it happens AFTER that?”

“I… think so.” he sighed and then went on, sounding very unhappy, “As i said, my knowledge is limited: i was in prison on Asgard until...things happened and the trip to this time and place was… a bit odd.”

“Then don’t worry about it right now. Right now you just get us back to Earth, and then we can get coffee- because nothing good happens before coffee- and once my stomach settles we can eat something, and then we can work out a plan… ok?”

“We?”

Darcy looked around, “Do you see anyone else in this shuttle?”

“You… offer to help with this?”

“Sounds like someone needs to- besides we have a deal don’t we?”


	4. A Shield Maiden, not a SHIELD maiden

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> so... ah... getting back to earth is not without complication.

“Tell me why we appear to be landing on Stark Tower’s roof?” Darcy had tried to listen as Loki had explained the … peculiar… method of operation of their ‘lifeboat’: about all she really understood was that the mother ship had been a bit out of phase- sort of like subspace she guessed- and landing wasn't as simple as pointing at someplace flat.

Loki dragged a hand over his eyes, “Believe me i would prefer almost anywhere else, but the residual dimensional effects are strongest there… it was easier.”

Darcy unbuckled and tried to stretch- and almost fell down. “Ooh FUCK gravity!”

Loki sniggered, “well yes, it works much better in gravity- without gravity you tend to rebound away from your partner…”

She looked at him- startled by the statement- and then snickered, “I guess its like that whole romance trope of sex on the beach, which sounds great until you actually try it?”

“What happens when you try it?”

“Sand,” Darcy shuddered, “Sand everywhere.”

He looked at the control panel and winced, “we appear to have company…”

“So? Can’t you be invisible? I heard you could be invisible.”

“Yes? But won’t they wonder how you flew the ship?”

“Point.” she considered, “Can you look like someone else?”

“For a short time? Yes. i am unfortunately rather tired.”

“I’ll get us to someplace safe if i can…”

And then there was a rather eye hurting effect and… a tall *blond* man in a much deeper green outfit was standing there. “Shall we?”

…

Darcy walked out of the lifeboat thing to find Ironman fully suited up and clearly aimed at the door- well, she couldn't blame him.

“Hi? Um… Tony Stark? Uh… I’m Darcy Lewis? We talked by email… umm… i was Jane Foster and Erik Selvig’s intern?” she waved in her very best ‘i am non-threatening and may have coffee’ fashion.

The suit faceplate opened up and a very puzzled looking Tony Stark stared at her. “Care to explain why you are landing on my roof in an alien spacecraft? Especially since we’ve been getting reports of aliens materializing all over the place?”

“Oh!” she looked over at Loki, “I guess some of them got through the ‘landing portal?”

He nodded very solemnly, and then looked at Ironman, “You… know this person?”

Right- pretending not to be Loki- “He’s… one of our planet's heroes. He helped fight off that invasion I mentioned.”

He looked up at Ironman and said, “The ship used… a dimensional portal to abduct people- it was the main way they traveled to and from a planet. This is an emergency shuttle we escaped in.”

Darcy nodded, “We couldn’t get to the landing bay because the guards *had* to know we would be heading there.” she paused, “Most of the aliens are probably the spaceship guys, but… there were other prisoners we set loose, so i hope some of them made it off.”

She couldn't help but feel guilty: Loki put a hand on her shoulder. “You gave them a chance, Miss Lewis- one they would not have had.”

She found herself sniffling, “We’ve been imprisoned together; i think you can call me Darcy… um… you never did tell me what to call you.”

“Hrim,” he nodded at her, and then turned back to Ironman, “Your countrywoman is very brave, and very clever.”

She straightened up and beamed at him- i mean it was nice to hear even if it was probably mostly for cover- “And you have fantastic aim and long legs.” she nodded. She looked back at Mr. Stark, “I… ah… kinda pissed the aliens off and they had me in weird chains…” she held out a wrist, “He could get the chains cut off once we found alien bolt cutters but…”

The Ironman suit more or less unfolded and he stepped out of it, walked up and started peering at her wrist. “What is that?”

“Beats me?”

Loki shrugged, “I didn’t have time to get the shackles off, just the chains…”

“Can i get these into the lab?”

“If you can get them off my wrists and ankles? Sure. but um… look is there someplace we could get some food and… lie down for a bit because running and blowing things up is… surprisingly tiring.”

He gave her an oddly quirked smile, “Yeah, yeah kid, it is.”

“I’m not a kid!”

He ruffled her hair, “True, never saw a kid with- right! Anyway…. Come on in, sorry about the harsh reception.”

“It was only sensible,” Loki said, and boy did he sound tired. 

She moved over and got under one arm, “Hey, lean on me- you carried me enough earlier.”

“Do you need a doctor? Oh and since we are all on a first name basis call me Tony.”

“I mostly need ice packs.” Darcy said mournfully, “We had to squooze through a few spots that boobs were not meant to squooze.”

Tony missed a step.

...

It was all going well until they got some kind of video conference call from SHIELD trying to ‘debrief’ them.

...

“No.” Darcy shook her head, “You can hand your questions to Mister Stark, but no.”

After finding out Darcy could out stubborn a mule, Tony tried to appeal to Loki- Hrim- “they’re the people who literally deal with alien encounters on this planet…”

To Darcy's surprise Loki backed her up 100%. “If Miss Lewis- Darcy- is not comfortable talking to them then we will not talk to them: she says you are one of Earth’s heroes; we will talk to you.” he then paused, “Or… well, I truly need to eat and rest…”

“Yeah!” look, I’ll tell you-” she pointed at Tony, “- the basics while i get like a tray of food? And you gotta let us rest.”

He hung up on the SHIELD guy and shrugged, “ok, not like i like them much either… er… why don’t you?” he got up and walked them out toward someplace- hopefully with food.

“They showed up and seized all of the doctors’ notes! They weren’t going to give them back or *anything* and if Thor hadn’t threatened them they’d still have ripped off all their grant money and research.” She growled, “And the misogynistic scum split Erik and Jane up and gave Erik the *good* lab and shoved Jane out in the middle of nowhere-ville.” she frowned at Tony, “AND threatened us all with being dropped into an ultra secure prison if we talked about anything.”

“They do like their threats,” Tony sighed.

And then they were in a small kitchen and Tony ordered some food sent up and was cooking some other stuff, and blended up a few smoothies to tide them over. Loki looked like he was biting his tongue a bit.   
Darcy did her best to tell Tony what happened- it was probably a bit disjointed, and she was really glad she didn't slip up and say Loki at any point… but much to her embarrassment she started crying while she was talking about some of it.

“I’m sorry? I don’t know why I’m crying… i didn’t cry then…”

Loki sighed and patted at her shoulder, “You are crying now because you could not cry then- our survival depended on it: you are safe now, so you can cry…” he actually did look sympathetic, if a bit uncomfortable, “You were not raised to battle.” he smiled briefly, “even if you are very good at it.”

The plus side of Darcy tearing up was that Tony got this very uncomfortable look and then was trying to find them two separate rooms and… Darcy took hold of Loki- Hrim, she reminded herself- and shook her head.  “Look.... yeah eventually we are going to need separate rooms but…” 

she looked up at Loki and flinched because, while she was saying it for cover? Every single word was true: “This guy saved my life and every time some aliens showed up and tried to shoot us he picked me up- literally- and carried or dragged me to safety. You have to go help round up aliens, because even if they were other prisoners that's gotta be done, right? I don’t trust SHIELD with them given how they tried to treat Thor when they got him… so i don't trust them with any of these guys either. That means we’re going to have to stay here by ourselves and somewhere in my brain I don't quite believe he won't have to pick me up and carry me out of the line of fire- even if I haven't quite forgiven him for the boob squishing yet.”

Loki looked a bit startled, and a bit touched, and sort of hesitantly patted at her shoulder. “Do not let her downplay her accomplishments…” he was clearly trying to decide how to address Tony when Tony's phone, his watch, and some random spots around the room apparently chimed. 

He winced, “Looks like you were right: I have to go help clean up the mess. Jarvis? Show these two to a guest room in the tower until i can ...something.”

“Certainly, sir.” a voice came from a speaker set somewhere.

By the time Darcy was trying to ask who Jarvis was, Tony Stark was throwing down one of his blender shakes and heading to the big windows… and… a suit flew up to the balcony?! He stepped out and the thing more or less swallowed him and he flew off.

“Wow.” Darcy blinked a lot.

Loki stood there and blinked a lot too… then he slowly looked around and more or less at the ceiling… “Jarvis…?”

“Indeed,” said the voice from the ceiling. “If you can manage to stay awake long enough to go down a few floors; the building has some guest apartments.”

Loki scooped up the food, and Darcy asked this Jarvis guy about order in- still apparently a bit hard to come by in New York, but possible- and they got the door codes for the apartment and …   
Jarvis said he didn't have access into the guest rooms, just the hallway and the phones…

…

And somewhere in there the world just… blinked or something because Darcy woke up to someone knocking on the door.   
  


**Author's Note:**

> its based very loosely on my seeing (and sharing) this Tumblr Post: https://fabricdragondesigns.tumblr.com/post/643849613889191936/starchild-of-the-sea-lokihiddleston-loki
> 
> the TITLE is based on "Mom and Dad save the world"


End file.
